THOMAS CARLYLE.

CARLYLE was a Scotchman, but his literary career must be of peculiar interest to Americans. If ever it was true that a prophet is not recognized in his own country, it was true of Carlyle. For a long time he could find no publisher for his "Sartor Resartus," and it had to be published piecemeal in a magazine. It was left to a Harvard graduate to collect the scattered papers into a book, which thus established his fame. His miscellaneous Essays, contributed to various English magazines, were collected by the same loving hand and first published in this country. The man who thus taught England to honor its prophet was no other than Ralph Waldo Emerson, for many years an Overseer of our own College.

Carlyle has written history, biography; has discussed the burning questions of his time, and whatever he said, he said well. But the peculiar value of his writings for young men is his intense earnestness, his sincerity. He may well be called the apostle of sincerity. With Carlyle was carried to the grave the patriarch of a new age, - an age of activity, not of morbid self-consciousness; of sincerity, not of ceremony. He renounced the faith which only babbles after what another said, which repeats without reflection; he first taught men to look into the great Book for themselves, and see whether there be any voice in nature to justify faith. The result was that Carlyle's faith was as firm as a rock, as any faith must needs be which comes not from authority, but from conviction.

It is said that of late Carlyle became unfaithful to his earlier teachings. This is not the place to discuss the charge. But whether true or not, the Carlyle of the early days must for ever remain dear to the young men whose souls were set ablaze by his impassioned eloquence. Our own University bestowed on him the honorary degree of a doctor. Not the worshipper of rude force, not the fanatical hater of the negro, did it thus honor, but the matchless painter of the French Revolution, the eloquent preacher of hero-worship, and the devout apostle of a gospel which preaches faith, action, and sincerity.